Eighty minutes of light went south of the border Trump thinks “Ya know, if we just had the wall.!!” I fear the night, the right’s righteous disorder But I’m privileged and white and there’s a sale at the mall Indigenous Day Discounts! The deals! For instance Fifty percent off! Shirts from Phnom Penh But I … Read More
2018 I am an American and reluctantly admit we’re an embarrassment because of that Twit Why can’t I be Paris-from or Belizean or Brit? with no wannabe Erdogan tweeting Holy Writs But I’m a U.S. guy queasily ashamed I can’t deny I was too easily framed Like you, currying favor with complacency While they found … Read More
Ashland, Oregon is a community awash with creative people: writers, actors, musicians, painters, sculptors, etc. How could I stand out here? What could I add? And then it came to me…of course! I would form a dance company! And so The Caraher Modern Dance Company was born. Like most kids, it had long been … Read More
Hi Every year, NPR sponsors a contest for original-music videos – pretty much the only requirement for the shoot is that a desk be visible. My entry this year was shot in my studio in my new hometown of Ashland, Oregon. I wrote this song a few years ago and the lyrics were read on … Read More
Photo by Scott Olson I end this month of poetry with the lyric to a song I wrote years ago. It is unrecorded and I’ve rarely performed it. I thought of it on a recent trip back to Iowa. Although much has changed since I left, there is something about the vast skies and horizons … Read More
Abu Malek, chemical attack survivor, in the Ghouta town of AinTarma, Syria. Photo by Reuters. Words In full throat we once cried plaintive notes that lift the tide and mothers coo and fathers weep and all we do is steal their sleep And then we astound and form a word a more precious sound … Read More
Jesus and Satan Out on the Plains Jesus and Satan out on the plains both of them living on long-ago fame They got off their horses, holstered their guns And talked turn of course to Thy Kingdom Come “I brought the light and the world was saved.” “Yeah, but I brought the right to … Read More
Travelin’ Boy – Part Two Previously on “Travelin’ Boy”: About to accede to the Lord’s employ I was seized and tossed like a toy Upon the water I saw sweet bliss fade and die Did not resist is how I survived I was lifted, drifted, mystified What tomorrow would offer I landed in the … Read More